The Last Place Hero's Return

Under the Empress’s enthusiastic lead, our first night together came to pass, burning away in heat and pleasure. The next morning, when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Camellia sitting there with a thoroughly dejected expression, hugging the blanket. Despite finally spending the long-awaited first night with me, she looked so sulky; the reason for this was quite simple.

Camellia puffed out her cheeks and glared at me with clear dissatisfaction. “To think you would handle me as though I were some kind of toy... It seems I’ll need to teach you proper etiquette toward the Empress again.”

“Hey now.”

When you put it like that, it makes it sound like I did something terrible. Well, maybe it was a little intense? Thinking back on it, I had probably gotten a bit carried away halfway through when things heated up.

“I distinctly told you to leave everything to me...” Camellia trailed off with a pout.

I let out a quiet groan. At first, I had intended to follow her lead, just as she said, and remain still. But she had an unexpectedly cute side.

I replied, “If I had left everything to you, we wouldn’t have gotten anything done until sunrise.”

Even though she had boldly asked me to leave everything to her, her actions had been so clumsy they almost made me laugh. It had taken her several minutes just to remove my clothes, and after she finally did, she froze with a startled expression. How could I just lie there and watch after that?

Camellia pouted, her face flushing bright red. “Ugh! W-well, it couldn’t be helped!”

She hugged her knees and turned her head sharply away before speaking in a small, embarrassed voice. “It was... my first time.”

Why is our Empress so adorable, seriously?

I let out a cough. The warmth that had finally settled began to stir again, heating my body. I gently grabbed Camellia’s shoulders and pulled her back down on the bed.

She was flustered. “Y-you?”

I teased her. “Then you can just gain more experience from now on.”

Her cheeks flushed an even deeper red. “H-how shameless.”

“You’re the one who started it first, Camellia.”

“Hmph. I don’t recall that very well.”

“Really? Then I guess I’ll just have to help you remember.”

“Kyah! W-wait!”

* * *

And so, round two began. It didn’t end until the sun had climbed high into the sky.

“Phew.”

After finishing my shower, I changed out of the patient gown and into my cadet uniform.

“Surely, you’re not planning to leave the hospital already?” Camellia asked.

“I have completely recovered. There’s no reason to keep staying here,” I replied.

“Hmm. Still, wouldn’t it be better to rest for a few more days?”

“That’s not something the person who kept me from resting should be saying.”

“Ugh, t-that was...”

Maybe it was because she had opened up around me, but I kept seeing expressions from Camellia that I never could have imagined when we first met. Though, honestly, that contrast made her even more charming. As I compared the flustered Camellia standing here now with the dignified Empress I first met in the imperial palace, a smile naturally spread across my face.

Camellia asked, “What are you grinning about like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Hmph. Your impertinence hasn’t changed at all. By the way...” She narrowed her eyes slightly as she stood up. Slowly walking over to me, she carefully touched my chest, more precisely, the spot where my soul stigmata was engraved. “That Demon God’s flame you absorbed back then. Is it still inside your soul stigmata?”

“Yeah. It seems like it.”

“Has it shown any unusual movement?” she asked.

“Not so far.”

Camellia’s gaze darkened with concern.

I looked at her. “Are you worried?”

“How could I not be? Especially after what the Archbishop of Ruin said back then.”

The Demon God was the worst and most terrifying of gods, and he was humanity’s enemy. Now, I had become that very Demon God.

“Do not make such an expression.” She reached up and gently stroked my cheek with the same hand that had been touching my soul stigmata. “Just because the Demon God’s flame resides within you, it does not mean you yourself are the Demon God.”

“That’s...”

“A sword can be used to kill someone, or to save someone. What matters is not what power exists, but who wields it.”

Camellia was right. In fact, in many ways, her words were the correct answer. But the world didn’t always move according to what was logically right.

“By that logic, the demons are the same,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“The only difference between a demon and a hero is which god granted the soul stigmata carved into their chest,” I explained.

Yet, heroes who bore the soul stigmata of the Seven Gods were humanity’s saviors. Meanwhile, those who bore the Demon God’s soul stigmata were humanity’s destroyers. Just because of the power they possessed, that single difference completely changed their destinies.

“Maybe I might also...” I trailed off.

She snorted. “Is that all you’ve been worrying about? The reason humanity rejected the demons wasn’t that they bore the Demon God’s soul stigmata. It was because they failed to control the destructive impulse that comes with it... But, aren’t you different?”

I had not fallen into destructive urges and slaughtered people meaninglessly. Nor had I lost control of my power and run rampant. At least, not yet.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean it will always remain that way. But if the day ever comes when you lose control of your power and go berserk...” A faint seven-colored aura radiated from Camellia. “Then in the name of the Empress, I will personally stop you.”

“Camellia...”

She herself surely knew that if my power truly went out of control, she alone wouldn’t be enough to stop me. And yet, she wanted to give me comfort.

“Thank you,” I said.

The fierce spark of anxiety that had been burning inside my chest slowly began to fade. If I really thought about it, hadn’t I already possessed that kind of power since before my regression, since the moment I accepted the Primordial Flame into my body? Even if another Primordial Flame had been added on top of that, nothing had truly changed.

She continued, “Still, others may not think the same way I do. It would be best to hide this fact as much as possible.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

If the world ever found out that I had absorbed all of the Demon God’s power, things would become far more complicated. After all, the fear and hatred humanity had built up toward the Demon God over the past several centuries was far beyond anything easily measured.

“I’m only planning to tell the party members about what happened,” I said.

“In my opinion, it might be better not to tell even them,” she replied.

“It’s fine. I trust them.”

To begin with, they already knew that I had regressed and that the Primordial Flame resided within my body. More importantly, I couldn’t lie.

“Someone did warn me they’d give me hell if I lied to them again.” I smiled faintly as Iris came to mind.

“Hmm. I still think it would be safer to keep it hidden, but I’ll respect your decision.”

“In that case, I’m planning to head to the party house now.” I extended my hand toward Camellia. “Want to come with me?”

Without hesitation, Camellia nodded and took my hand.

* * *

When we arrived at the party house, I explained to the party members what had happened in the deepest depths of the Abyss. They naturally had many questions.

“So, the Demon God wasn’t sealed away? He was already dead from the start?”

“That’s right. What was beneath the Abyss wasn’t the Demon God himself, just the remnants left behind after his death,” I answered.

“And you absorbed all of those remnants, Dale?”

“Yeah,” I said.

Silence settled over the party house. My party members looked stunned by the sudden flood of information, but after a moment, they simply nodded.

“In that case, it’s actually reassuring. It means humanity’s greatest threat has essentially disappeared.”

Elisha crossed her arms and nodded thoughtfully. “In some ways, that’s the best possible outcome.”

Berald’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Hahahaha! Well then, does that mean we should start calling you the Demon God from now on, Big Brother? Haah! To think I’ve got a god among my sworn brothers! My heart’s pounding just thinking about it!”

Senior Sophia immediately pinched his side mercilessly. “Lower your voice. And when exactly did you and Dale become sworn brothers?”

“Hm? There was that time when Big Brother drank the beer I was drinking.”

“How does that count as becoming sworn brothers? Don’t you have to swear an oath?”

“Well, there must’ve been saliva mixed in with the beer, right? Doesn’t that mean our blood mixed too[1]? That makes us sworn brothers. Ah! Come to think of it, I never heard what blood type Big Brother has! I heard drinking saliva from someone with a different blood type can cause serious illness!”

Senior Sophia sighed deeply, her face filled with the despair of someone thinking, Is this idiot really my fiancee?

Camellia, who had been listening from a short distance away from the others, let out a hollow laugh.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s just... Everyone seems far calmer about this than I expected.”

* * *

For the past two weeks, while Dale had been unconscious, Camellia had agonized over the matter dozens, no, hundreds of times before finally accepting it. Yet his party members had barely taken a moment after hearing that Dale absorbed the Demon God’s power before nodding and blurting out things like “That’s actually reassuring.”

Iris, Yuren, Elisha, and Laneige exchanged glances before collectively arriving at the same conclusion.

“Ah, well...”

“Hm, that’s because...”

“Because it’s Dale?”

“Mm. That’s exactly it. Because it’s Dale.”

“I-I’m sure Dale can control something like the Demon God’s power without any problem!”

They probably thought, Well, it’s Dale. He’ll figure something out.

Seeing their reactions, Camellia looked utterly dumbfounded.

“Well, we’ve known Dale much longer than you have, Your Majesty,” Iris said with a shrug.

“Let’s call it a deduction based on experience,” Elisha added.

“If you spend more time around Dale, Your Majesty, you’ll understand too,” Yuren said.

Iris, Elisha, and Yuren all shrugged with wry smiles.

Watching their relaxed expressions, Camellia flinched slightly. “Known Dale much longer... I see.”

Why was it? It was such an obvious statement, yet something in her chest throbbed faintly, as though pricked by a needle. It took her quite some time to realize that this unfamiliar emotion was jealousy.

To think the day would come when I would feel jealous of someone else! thought the Empress.

Camellia shook her head and looked toward Dale’s lovers. “The first one to begin dating Dale, that would be Iris, correct?”

“Ah, yes,” Iris replied.

“I heard from Dale that you were lovers in your previous life as well. Is that true?” Camellia asked.

“That’s what he told me. Though I don’t remember it myself.”

“Hm. A bond that has continued since a past life...” If their connection stretched back to a previous life, what could she possibly say? Camellia continued, “And I already knew Professor Baldwin...”

Her gaze then shifted to Dale. Behind him stood a woman with purple hair, peeking out cautiously while watching Camellia with wary eyes. For some reason, she was dressed in a maid’s outfit.

Camellia stared at her. “Don’t look at me with such fear. As I said before, just because I have become Dale’s lover doesn’t mean I intend to deny your relationship with him.”

“R-really?” Laneige asked.

“Hehe. If we were to rank things, you would actually outrank me,” Camellia said.

To outrank even the Empress. For Laneige, who had been scorned by the other cadets as a witch just one year ago, it was a rise in status she could never have imagined. “Uuugh. I-I shouldn’t laugh...”

Imagine a subordinate who joined under you turning out to be the Empress who ruled an entire nation. The thrilling shock of such authority was impossible to describe. For a moment, it even loosened the intense obsession Laneige held toward Dale.

“So, that would make me Dale’s fourth lover,” Camellia muttered.

For the Empress, of all people, to become the fourth lover of a man who already had not just one, but three partners. Even to herself, the situation was so absurd that a laugh escaped her lips. However, the others’ reactions to her words were strange.

“Huh?”

“Fourth?”

“That’s not right.”

Camellia frowned as she looked at the three confused women. “What do you mean it’s not right? Don’t tell me he has another lover?”

Iris, Elisha, and Laneige slowly turned their gazes toward Yurina, who was currently disguised as Yuren.

“Yuren? Yuren Helios is a man, isn’t he?”

Surely not. A horrifying thought suddenly flashed through Camellia’s mind.

* * *

Camellia turned to me with a stunned expression, as if she had just glimpsed an endless abyss. “D-Dale, don’t tell me you...!”

I didn’t know how to explain it to her. “Uh, Well...”

She continued, “Guhhh! I-it’s fine! There can be many different forms of love in this world!”

“There’s actually an explanation,” I hurriedly said.

“I-I can accept it! I can accept everything about you!” Camellia blurted out.

“No, wait a minute.”

Please just listen to what I’m about to say.

1. In the old days, swearing an oath of brotherhood meant drinking wine mixed with blood from a cut on their fingers. ☜

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!